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PROVO — BYU baseball saw impending storms set to descend upon Larry H. Miller Park just before 6 p.m. Tuesday about 24 hours previous, which prompted the Cougars to move up their rivalry game with Utah by about three hours.
It was the first of several good decisions by the Cougars against the Utes.
Ozzie Pratt went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored, and nine pitchers combined on a one-hit shutout to help BYU snap a four-game losing skid with a 7-0 win over Utah in the first of a three-game rivalry series.
Cole Gambill was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored, Jacob Wilk went 2-for-4 with a home run, and Austin Deming had two RBI for BYU (5-10).
"It's always good to beat Utah," BYU coach Trent Pratt told BYU Radio after improving to 3-0 when playing error-free baseball. "And to get the win today like that was just what we needed. Everything went right for us today."
"That's how you win games," the first-year full-time head coach added. "We throw strikes, play catch, and get a big hit every once in a while. We really played well tonight. Everyone came in today and did their job. ... Hopefully we can ride this feeling and get some momentum going into conference play."
BYU struck first when Ozzie Pratt came home on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, and scored again during a three-run third inning to push the Cougars' lead to 4-0. Wilk smacked a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth, and an RBI double highlighted a two-run eighth to stretch the lead to 7-0.
A bomb for Wilk 👏💣 @JacobWilk22pic.twitter.com/S3MT6l6uYg
— BYU Baseball (@BYUBaseball) March 14, 2023
Olson earned his first win of the year (0-1, 3.38 ERA) with two strikeouts in four scoreless innings for BYU, and the relief staff of Carter Smith, Cutter Clawson, Ben Hansen and Boston Habeaus combined to allow just one hit with a walk and three strikeouts before Northridge alum Jake Porter finished off the shutout in a total of 102 pitches.
"It was great," said Olson, a Spanish Fork product and College of Southern Idaho transfer. "Our bullpen has struggled lately, so it was nice for us to piece it together. ... It felt good. Our defense was making a lot of good plays; that helped out."
TJ Clarkson had the lone hit the Utes (7-9, 1-2 Pac-12), whose two-game winning streak in the in-state rivalry series was snapped to even the series at 16-16 since 2012, when the two teams joined different conferences (BYU leads 249-126-1 all-time). Utah returns home Friday for the first of a three-game series with Arizona State.
BYU opens West Coast Conference play with a three-game series beginning Thursday at Loyola Marymount. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. MDT.
